SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
CNN reports that when asked how to offset the influence of big money in politics, President Barack Obama suggested it's time to make voting a requirement. "Other countries have mandatory voting," said Obama "It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything," he said, adding it was the first time he had shared the idea publicly.
"The people who tend not to vote are young, they're lower income, they're skewed more heavily towards immigrant groups and minority groups. There's a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls."
At least 26 countries have compulsory voting, according to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Failure to vote is punishable by a fine in countries such as Australia and Belgium; if you fail to pay your fine in Belgium, you could go to prison. Less than 37% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2014 midterm elections, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. That means about 144 million Americans -- more than the population of Russia -- skipped out.
Critics of mandatory voting have questioned the practicality of passing and enforcing such a requirement; others say that freedom also means the freedom not to do something.
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Monday March 23 2015, @04:17PM
I would be against a test that used current events. I would make it simple but factual. Have a pool of 20 questions of which 10 are given that test a person's basic understanding of government. Include questions like:
Who is the current President of the United States of America?
Who is the current Vice President of the United States of America?
What are the 3 branches of government
What branch of government enforces the laws?
What branch of government writes the laws?
What chamber of congress does spending and taxing legislation originate in?
Who is the current governor of your state
Who are your current sitting senators?
Who is your current sitting house member?
Who is the current speaker of the US House?
Who is the speaker of the US Senate
How long do Justices on the US Supreme Court serve?
The answers are all multiple choice and each person is required to get all 10 correct. If these questions are a barrier for voting for a person I really don't want them to vote. I don't want people to vote who don't even have the most basic idea of how our government works to vote for the people in that government. These are questions that everyone with at least a 6th grade education should be able to answer and I would contend that if someone is unable to answer them they are not mentally fit to be voting. Which interestingly enough is a requirement to actually be able to vote in many places.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday March 25 2015, @11:24PM
Great. More uncreative multiple choice tests that test only for mindless rote memorization. This time, though, the stakes are much, much higher; a fundamental liberty is at stake.
I don't care how 'simple' you think the questions are; they will only be used to oppress the poor and uneducated (and the poor are often uneducated simply because their situation makes it hard to become more educated), who will then have no means to try to improve their situation because you've taken away one of the biggest means to do so. Maybe you think they 'deserve' it, and I'm sure racists thought the same way in the past. The idea of an unbiased test that will determine whether or not someone is eligible to vote being ultimately beneficial or moral is a joke. You're giving far too much power to the government, and it simply does not deserve and *will* abuse it.